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Page: NKSD will be a ‘landmark’ district | Who's Who

Patty Page, the local girl who became head of the North Kitsap School District.

— image credit: Kipp Robertson/ Herald

POULSBO — Summer is a busy time for any school district administration. Staff is being rearranged, people are being interviewed for jobs, budgets are being picked apart and pieced together.

It’s no different for North Kitsap School District’s new superintendent, Patty Page.

Page replaced Richard Jones July 2. She hit the ground, or paperwork, running.

“It’s pretty busy all the time,” Page said.

“It might appear calm here, but we’re still moving pretty quickly. Summer time doesn’t typically slow down at the district office.”

There’s work to be done. But that comes as no surprise to Page.

Prior to coming to NKSD, Page worked as superintendent of the Coupeville School District. Before that, she worked as assistant superintendent of the Kelso School District. She began her career at Clover Park as a teacher in 1976.

There are a lot of parallels to many of the positions she’s held and the workload is not unknown to Page. She expects to be similar to that of Kelso, which is similar in size to NKSD. However, there will be more obligations with her new position, including more service organization meetings and extracurricular activities to attend.

But before she can think about scheduling her evenings to watch a drama performance or football game — the fun stuff — her focus is the budget and hiring vacant positions.

Page is currently working on filling vacant positions and working with the school board on the 2012-13 budget. She doesn’t expect to get much time off.

The district needs to cut approximately $2.3 million from its budget. There are two elementary principal positions still vacant (as of July 18). Page doesn’t expect to get much time off.

It’s not all work for Page, however. When it comes to fun, she is involved with what has become a favorite pastime for many sports enthusiasts: fantasy football.

Page entered her fantasy league 21 years ago. A high school friend organized the 18-team league. She signed up and has stuck with it.

Last season, Page finished second in the league. The first 10-12 years, she had more chumps of the week than any other team. She does better now.“I’ve had my moments,” she said.

The draft is in Chicago. This means if Page is going to participate, she’ll need to take one or two days off in August to make the trip. She’s undecided.

As a fantasy football player, it only makes sense that Page enjoys watching football. And her being Seahawks season ticket holder confirms that. “It’s fun,” she said.

The newest superintendent is also a season ticket holder to the 5th Avenue and Paramount theaters. She describes herself as a “huge drama fan.”

Page enjoys live music. Her son was in band throughout public school and college. She enjoys attending student music performances. She said her favorite band is the Rolling Stones.

“I’m a rock and roller at heart,” she said.

When Page gets time off, she travels to the island of Kauai, where she went to school until fourth grade.

Though she has lived in many areas, Page considers the North Kitsap area her home.

Graduating from North Kitsap High School in 1972, she planned to return when she retired. Her mother has lived in the area since they first moved and her son would like to move to western Washington following his graduation from law school.

Plans to retire from Coupeville, however, changed one January day.

Talking with her administrative assistant, it just fell out that the superintendent position in NKSD was open. After Page heard it come out of her own mouth, things took off from there.

“I just needed to follow [the job opportunity] to see where it led,” she said.

Under her retirement plan, Page could have retired within one year. However, she plans to stick it out for at least another three to five. Before retiring, Page said she wants to see NKSD become, or at least progress to becoming, a “landmark” school district. She admits, that will take time. It is not going to happen in a few years, she said.

Page expects budget cuts in the district will continue for some time. But that can only last so long with the McCleary ruling, which requires the state to adequately fund education by 2018.

Budget cuts or not, though, Page wants to give back to the place she calls home.

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